I/EC
The Profession
How Do I Rate Myself? A "do it yourself" performance review is the smart w a y to prepare for management evaluation programs
E V E R Y MAN seeking to improve him self and his job should prepare a personal annual report. As he looks at and records accomplishments for the year he will ask himself about present progress and future prospects. He will take inventory of his strong points and shortcomings. His per sonal annual report will become his guide to effective personal growth for the year to come. The practice of self-appraisal be comes more important because man agements of many companies are in creasingly employing performance reporting to keep them informed about quality and quantity of work of the individual. Sometimes this procedure results in a label being placed upon a man—blue for pro motion, yellow for "stay put," or red for unsatisfactory. In the face of this growing trend of manage ment to analyze and inventory man power resources, all of which is a good idea, what should or what can you do in behalf of your own career to make sure that you are given a fair performance review? How can you undertake a "do it yourself" performance review? This is where the personal annual report idea can be useful as a practical and realistic approach to taking a good hard look at ourselves. When you know what you have accomplished, and have qualitative and quantitative facts before you, and if you have a good understand ing of where you can improve, you need have no qualms about a per formance review. You should wel come it if it is one where the boss sits down with you to talk over your progress. Personally, I believe that it is most important for a man to spend a few hours in quiet, secluded, un interrupted contemplation of him self. This is a time for honest and brutal frankness.
Too many people delay this selfappraisal until something happens that forces them to do it. To pre vent someone else being brutal with you, do it yourself. This becomes more urgent when another man gets the promotion, or if one is passed by for a raise, or if mergers or cost reduc tion programs dislocate our jobs. So to be prepared for the changes and chances of life, let us keep knowledgeable about ourselves. As a guide to self-analysis, I have pre pared ten questions. These ques tions are based on procedures fol lowed by my firm when we under take an executive audit of a company staff or appraise an individual for employment. If you will refer to the self-quiz on page 97 A, I would like to offer some suggestions. 1. How Well Qualified Am I for This Position? For a realistic answer to Question 1, you will need a job description. If one is not avail able, you should then write down the details of your work, responsibilities, authority, and accountability. This should be checked by your superior to make sure that you both know and understand what your job is. Also write down what you believe to be the personal, technical, and experi ence requirements of the position. 2. How Effective Is My Per formance? I believe that you and I know when we are doing a good job. In answering this question, think in terms of accomplishments. What work has been finished, what deadlines met, with what results, and at what cost? What are some of the special contributions you have made this year to your work, your department, and your company? Here facts speak louder than blurbs. 3. How Are My Personal Rela tions? Here, let us emphasize the ability to maintain effective and pro ductive relations with all levels of people. It is more than maintain-
Robert F. Moore, vice presi dent and director of Richardson, Bellows, Henry & Co., Inc., New York, Ν. Υ., graduated from Columbia College in 1924 and Columbia School of Business in 1925. Currently in "Who's Who in America," he is a former direc tor of personnel at Columbia Uni versity and the Manhattan Project, and has written books and articles on management development. Mr. Moore is a past president of New York Personnel Manage ment Association and the New York Adult Education Council. His firm of management consult ants and industrial psychologists specializes in personnel selection, psychological appraisal, attitude studies, executive recruitment, and management development. This text is an adaptation of a talk made before the AIC at its annual meet ing in Akron, Ohio.
ing happy, contented relations. All of us have a boss and he has a job to do. Your relation to your boss, your attitude toward him, and the way you carry out your assignments affect his performance and your own. A very important part of this question is: Do I have the right boss, do I respect him, and do I enjoy working with him? Your boss is very im portant to your effective perform ance. There is only one answer if you have the wrong kind of boss— change him. How? That's up to you! Before you take drastic action, however, be sure which one of you is at fault. Check your own rela tionships with your peers and your subordinates. Do you all work well V O L 49, N O . 8
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AUGUST 1957
91 A
THE PROFESSIONAL SIDE together? If y o u are n o t getting cooperation a n d the required results, take a good introspective look at your o w n relations. Fortunately, h u m a n relations skills c a n be a c quired if you know your limitations. 4. What Are M y Work Characteristics? Personal qualifications become important only when they are applied to your j o b . I t is not only what you have, but how you use it. W h e n you examine your work characteristics, you will be asking how effectively you use your skills a n d experience. D o you work hard? C a n you handle pressure? Are you analytical, creative? C a n you make decisions? D o you make good use of time? D o you use your full potential? Are you striving to improve? This phase of self-analysis is most important. Work characteristics become habits. You can make a habit of success or of mediocrity. 5. Aspirations a n d Drive? U n d e r this question you ask yourself, W h a t is my goal, how high d o I aspire, a n d are m y aims realistic? Specifically, W h a t d o I want to be doing five, ten, fifteen years from
now? T h e n the important part of this question, D o I want to make the sacrifices and d o I have the desire, the dedication, a n d the drive to carry m e through to m y goals? These a r e hard questions to face truthfully. H o w often have you seen a person aspire to a position, title, and money, and after achieving them become extremely u n h a p p y with the responsibility? There is a growing concept among companies that recognizes the comparative value of individual contribution as being a t least equally important as supervisory or managerial skills. T h e trend is to recognize the individual contribution by paying him the same as the manager. 6. What Are M y Interests a n d Values? Closely allied to the previous questions is this careful listing of those activities which really interest you. T h i n k in broadest terms about your work, your hobbies, or community activities. W h a t do you value most in life? Practical matters, religious, esthetic, or h u m a n affairs? This key question determines whether you are in the right work.
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7. H o w Is M y Personal Adjustment? U n d e r this heading you m a y consider how well you handle pressure a n d personal problems, successes, a n d disappointments. A r e there personal characteristics that need attention, modification, or elimination? I n brief, how m a t u r e a r e you to face, survive, and conquer the vicissitudes and complexities of life? 8. Intellectual Functioning. W e , as a firm, give adult intelligence examinations to executives not only to measure intelligence b u t to try to determine how well a m a n uses his intellectual equipment. Chemists and engineers usually make high scores in the top 5 % of the population and a t least comparable to the executive level, but high intelligence becomes useful only when it is properly applied a n d integrated with other qualities. Like a high powered engine, its value is in its productive application. 9. What Is t h e Company Climate? Previously we referred to the importance of the right boss. H e is often the reflection of " c o m p a n y climate," meaning the atmosphere or the spirit of the organization. T h e importance of this question to your self-analysis is that your personal growth is definitely affected by t h e climate in which you work. Climate can mean many things—a company that you can be proud to work for, policies that allow opportunities for personal contribution, growth, promotion, and rewards. 10. H o w Is M y Progress? This question summarizes the previous nine, for if you have answered them, you have a good idea of where you stand. Y o u will want to include practical questions about salary and promotions and potential for growth. H o w do you stack u p with your fellow man? Is your progress according to your career time table—or is it ahead or behind time? Write down the facts. Potential and Plan of Action Self-analysis becomes truly meaningful a n d resultful when you d o something about the findings. T h e first step, of course, is to check your answers. T r y them out on your best friend, your wife, or whoever you value as a counselor. If you want an objective outside view, see a reputable psychologist, but make sure he
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is a member of the American Psycho logical Association. Now that you have an understand ing of your potential, it is u p to you to take action by setting a plan and a program for yourself. Where do you need to improve and how will you go about it? Do you need more technical skill, more personal effec tiveness, more scope for your talents? Whatever the areas for improvement, a plan of action and a time table will bring your goals closer to realization. Your self-analysis—your personal annual report—has international implications. We have all heard a great deal about the scarcity of tech nical manpower and how Russia is outstripping the United States in this regard. Less than half of our tech nically trained graduates end u p in technical engineering or scientific positions. This fact further reduces the national technical manpower pool. There is nothing especially wrong with natural evolution toward occupations that suit our talents and abilities. We should not let statistics about technical manpower scare us. However, may I emphasize the importance to those of us who do stay in technical positions to make sure, along with the organization for whom we work, that we arc given the fullest opportunity to use our whole potential and talent? This desirable objective can be furthered by a system of company performance reviews combined with our indi vidual self-analysis annual report. T h e proper pursuit of such a process spurred on by the initiative of you, the individual, will go a long way toward expanding the quality of our technical manpower utilization. W e will then have no need to compete with mass production of so-called scientific personnel, which I suspect are turning out to be technicians rather than engineers and scientists. Thus each of you has within your self the personal power to contribute to the quality of the national tech nical manpower pool by making sure that you know and use your full potential and talent in the right field for you, in the right company for you, and in the right position for you. Self-analysis is worth while. It will help you prepare for those cer tain opportunities ahead. I wish you all the greatest success in undertaking your personal annual report.
